Columbia University | School of International and Public Affairs | Environmental Coalition

ECO Newsletter: Week of February 29, 2016

This week don´t forget to buy an ECO mug for your daily hot beverage, contact any ECO board member if your are interested.

On a different note, our announcements for the upcoming weeks are:

THIS WEEK:

The Environmental Leadership Delegation invites you to a talk with Seth M. Siegel Author of the Best-Seller “Let There Be Water”

Siegel’s essay on water and other policy issues have appeared in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and in leading publications in Europe and Asia. Siegel will discuss how Israel can serve as model for the United States and countries everywhere by showing how to blunt the worst of the coming water calamities.

When: Monday, February 29nd, 9:30 AMWhere: Room IAB 404

Movie Screening: Years of Living Dangerously

The South Asia Association in collaboration with Environmental Collaboration (ECO) & the Migration Working Group will be screening a documentary on Michael C Hall’s journey to Bangladesh to see how climate change will impact workers and the poor in developing countries in the coming decades, when a projected 150 million people will be forced to leave their homes to escape sea level rise and increased drought, insect-borne disease and flooding. Hall concludes his journey to Bangladesh, where rising seas are expected to submerge 17% of the country, and learns that global warming is a human rights, public health and foreign policy issue.

When: Monday, February 29nd, 10:00 pmWhere: Room IAB 407

A Student-Faculty Discussion: What are Columbia’s Economic, Legal and Moral Responsibilities to Act on Climate Change?

Recently, multiple proposals have been advanced to alter Columbia University’s endowment investment strategy in order to better reflect the imperative to shift away from an economy reliant on fossil fuels. At the same time, there is increasing recognition that these investment choices need to be supported by a strong commitment to ‘walking the talk’ on sustainability across Columbia’s campuses and throughout its programs. As part of an ongoing dialogue, this event will be an opportunity to hear and discuss faculty and student perspectives from across the university. It will feature a panel of distinguished faculty including and will allow considerable time for questions from members of the Columbia community. Attendees are welcome to submit questions or topics of interest in advance at the following form: http://goo.gl/forms/d8Nl7mJ2fD.

The Green Business Club presents: A discussion with Dr. Dickson Despommier: transforming food production through vertical farming

By the year 2050, close to 80% of the world’s population will live in urban areas and the total population of the world will increase by 3 billion people. How will we sustainably meet this growing demand to sustainably feed our planet?

The Green Business Club invites you to join Dr. Dickson Despommier, Emeritus Professor of Microbiology and Public Health at Columbia University for a discussion on the future of sustainable agriculture: vertical farming. Author of The Vertical Farm: Feeding the World in the 21st Century, Dr. Despommier will provide his perspective on vertical farming as a solution to repair our ecosystem and also discuss the future challenges to solve one of the greatest environmental challenges of our era.Light refreshments will be provided.

Bio: Dickson Despommier, Ph.D. is Emeritus Professor of Public Health and Microbiology at Columbia University in New York City. He is now engaged in a long-term project whose sole mission is to produce significant amounts of food crops inside tall buildings that are situated in densely populated urban centers. In 2012, he received the Distinguished Service Medal from Columbia University’s Medical School. In 2013, he received the Plantagon Corporation award of excellence. He has authored four books, written numerous peer-reviewed scientific papers, and has appeared on popular television shows such as the Colbert Report.

The eight Ivy League schools are teaming up once more to host the thirteenth All Ivy Environmental and Sustainable Development Career Fair. Representatives from over 75 organizations in the private, non-profit, and public sectors across a multitude of industries will connect with top graduate and undergraduate students.